Empty Promises: Essence
by Lightened Spirit
Summary: Friendship was never something that Flask had ever considered having or experiencing, but when he meets a pony who is moving in only a few doors down, his view on it suddenly changes. What challenges will await them as their friendship continues to grow?


Well, here you go. Might not be as entertaining, but should at least be worth a read.

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><p><strong>The One in the Blue<strong>

Flask took a red marker off from the kitchen counter and walked over to where the calendar was hanging on the wall near the entrance to the bathroom, and removed the cap with his teeth. "Six days left-," the colt spoke as he crossed off the current day off his calendar with a red marker. "-Until I go back to that hell hole."

"What hell hole?" a smaller voiced asked from behind.

Flask turned his head to face the foal who was still putting gifts on the couch. "The lovely place full of wonder and excitement that is originally derived from the service of what the locals call 'free education'."

The last gift was levitated onto the couch cushion, and another group of gifts floated into the living room from out of the bedroom behind the sibling. "Oh, _that_."

The older brother then wrapped a scarf around his neck, and began to walk toward the doorway, until one thought stopped him in his tracks. "...Is that the last group of gifts you're taking care of or are there more?"

"Nope; I think there a few large gifts left to get from the lobby," the foal quickly responded in attempt to keep one of the gifts from falling down the big pile.

"Damn it..." Flask sighed. With a quick push on the door to their own apartment, he started walking down the lighten hallway toward the end where the elevator was. Surprisingly, a note was attached to both of the elevator's doors:

"This elevator_ is currently out of service. We will try our best to get it working by New Year's Eve. :)_

_Happy holidays!_

_-Royal Heights Maintenance Team"_

He continued to stare at the note as if it too had its own pair of eyes; starring right back at him, until his own pair of eyes slowly moved to face the entrance to the staircase. Right when he could see the elevator's doors again, he found himself smashing his face against them in frustration.

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><p>Walking down the long staircase back to the lobby, he had taken notice of a piece of luggage that was sitting at the front desk. The owner must have left it behind in order to get something from outside. Various Christmas lights and bows decorated the lobby in order to bring a feeling that the holidays are here.<p>

Flask waited for the main doors to open before we would walk outside into the cold air. Snow covered the roads and the sidewalk, as well as many of the buildings in Manehattan. From where he stood, three large gifts were sitting near one of the other family relatives, whom was waiting patiently for someone to pick up the gifts. His coat matched the color of the snow around him, and he always wore ear muffs and a Sky Blue scarf where ever he went; cold or not.

"Hey, Silver!" the unicorn called out.

The other unicorn turned to face the one who had called his name, and merely put a smile on his face and moved out of the way to show his nephew the gifts behind him. "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to show up, because if I stay out here too long for you, I might become a part of the snow myself."

"By the way you look; I think you already look like as if you are a part of the snow already. Now, did you tell Titanium to bring his large cart so that I can carry these gifts inside?"

Silver starred at him for a little bit until he murmured, "Was I supposed to...?"

Flask could only put a hoof to his face and shake his head in disappointment. "Of course you were supposed to, idiot. How can I get these gifts up to my apartment? It's kinda obvious that I can't push them all the way up without ruining them."

The White colt thought for a bit, looked at the gifts, and then back to the pony in front of him. "Maybe you could try carrying them in, instead?"

"...That could work, I suppose," Flask sighed, "Could you put each gift onto my back?"

In response, Silver's horn quickly had a gray aura surrounding it, and one of the gifts slowly lifted up off the ground and hovered over toward the top of Flask's back. Once it was in place, the magic ceased and the gift fell slightly onto the colt. His legs bent down a bit from the weight, but he managed to prevail. The second gift, which was a bit smaller than the first, quickly landed onto the top of the first.

By the time the last gift was added to the stack, Flask's legs were practically wobbling and shaking from the large amount of weight that was pushing down onto his back.

"Are you sure that you can carry all of that upstairs? You know, since the elevator is out of service, or whatever the guy at the front desk told me."

"Of c-course I am...! This stuff isn't even that..._hnng_...heavy," he replied in a shaky, restrained voice.

"Alright, but while you're at it, tell your brother that I said 'hi' for me!" Silver chimed right when Flask gradually started walking toward the main entrance. The gifts were swaying from side to side from each step that was taken.

Once he had went passed the frame of the door, the gifts began to shift back and forth, while the carrier was attempting to keep the stack from falling, yet his efforts to keep the balance stable was quickly starting to fail, or how else Flask would have noted it. Just before the stack tipped over, the colt was yelping, "OH NO NO NO NO-!" He could only watch the gifts fall over, yet he was unaware of a bystander near the front desk was watching the scene unfold. Right when he was about to make an attempt to use his magic, the gifts suddenly stopped falling, and began to move carefully onto the floor with ease.

Turning his head to inspect the damage, he could only see two of the gifts, and what seemed to be another pony beside them.

This one, according to Flask could make out of the stranger's appearance is that he was obviously a Pegasus; he had a Deep Blue coat, Navy Blue mane, and an eighth-note for a cutie-mark, followed by his pair of Sand Blue colored eyes. After adjusting his position so he could see the other colt better, he could see that the Pegasus was making sure that the gifts were still in good condition.

"Do you need some help with carrying your stuff, mister?" the Pegasus suddenly asked, carrying one of the gifts while in midair. Flask only stood there for a few seconds before trying to levitate the gifts onto back, and spatting out, "No, I don't need any."

"Well, you're legs are still shaking from carrying all that junk. Do you want me to get a luggage cart for you?"

"Like I said before; I don't need your help." However, the Pegasus was already at the far end of the lobby, pulling out one of the carts from the line of unused carts. _Might as well accept it until I get back…_

From behind, he could hear the cart make a loud _cling _every time it came in contact with the creases between the granite tiles that were supposed to represent the flooring. Each gift was handled carefully onto the cart; even the heaviest one required the force of both ponies in order for it to get it settled onto the cart. After it was ready, the Pegasus merely stood there, waiting for the unicorn to put on the neck strap that was attached to the cart by two separate lines of rope.

"What?"

"Oh- sorry, I thought you were going to put the neck thingy on and…"

Flask looked behind himself and saw the strap lying on the floor next to the cart. "Since I can't use my magic, you're going to have to put it on for me."

With a sigh, the Pegasus grabbed hold of the strap and put it around Flask's neck, pulling on the string so it would be fastened, but he also made sure that it was not too tight. Once he had double checked the strap, he gave the unicorn the green light to pull the cart along. Upon reaching the area where the elevator was, he saw another copy of the note that was taped to the set of doors.

"Out of all the things I forget, it has to be the elevator being out of service."

The Pegasus followed suit with his bag, looked at the cart that had all three gifts on it, turned to face the staircase and the elevator, and quickly mumbled, "This is quite the pickle…" Looking both ways in search of another way to get up to the desired floor, a door stood in the corner of the small space, which had the same staircase format, but there were ramps instead of steps. The colt then tugged on Flask's ear in order to show him the new route.

"Ah, that works!"

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><p>Pushing the door wide open to provide room for the cart to get through, he quickly got out of the way of the ongoing cargo that slowly moved by, and closed the door once the cart had cleared the doorframe.<p>

"I hope you don't mind me asking," the Pegasus spoke quietly, "but what's the story behind your horn being all wrapped in gauze?"

"Had a snow sledding accident back at the Rocky Mountains last week," Flask responded while continuing to look straight forward.

"The Rocky Mountains; is that where you went for Christmas? Got relatives living there or what?"

"Some of my relatives live along the Eastern side of the Rocky Mountains near Vail. It's actually a beautiful place to visit, if you ask me."

"_More like a frozen ice box where some ponies can freeze their rumps off-_"

"What was that?"

"Nothing~!"

By the time the two colts veered around another corner, they had reached the end of the hallway, and only one door remained. Flask knocked on the door twice before he heard the locks from behind click twice until it was opened by his sibling. "How swell; you managed to get those gifts up here without any problems. Now you can let me take it from here…" the sibling spoke as the gifts were surrounded by a Pale Green aura and floated into the living room, where they ended up next to the television set. "So, who's your friend?"

"No one in particular," Flask began, "Just another pony that helped me get our stuff up here."

The Pegasus could only smile sheepishly, until a thought was crammed into his head. "Before I go, maybe I should introduce-" He was cut off when the apartment door was shut right in front of him, followed by the two clicks of the locks. _Expected, but rude…_

Since he had found himself being alone again, he could only turn around and head the other direction, carrying his bag along with him. The hallways were indeed bland; not a single Christmas decoration was in sight despite the large amount of paintings and lights that are installed into the wall. He soon found himself in front of another apartment door; the one he found to be his own. Pulling out a key from his bag, he put it into the lock and turned it, pushing the door afterward.

A blank, fresh, white-painted apartment stood before the Pegasus once the door had gotten out of the way and smacked the door stopper. While stepping into the living space, he didn't notice the letter on the floor until he suddenly stepped on it. Taking it up from the ground and inspecting it, he took out a letter from the envelope, and started to read from the very top of the folded paper.

"'Dear Symphony…'"

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><p><em>This has gotten off to a slow start, or so it seems. I am hoping to pick up the pace on this and add more as I go along with this, and actually <em>**UPDATE **_it._

_Happy holidays._

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><p><em>Quick shout-out: congratulations on your 32,000 posts to a friend of mine who posts on another foruming site!<em>


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